Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tom jumps down from the window of the second floor of a rundown building into the grass below and looks around the overgrown town square. “Jordan, you found anything?” He walks towards the centre of the square, inspecting the old dried-up well. There doesn’t seem to be anything in it, the water must have left it long ago as cracks have formed in its walls, creeping their way up to the surface. The door of a different house Tom just came from swings open as Jordan exits the building, shaking his head. “Nothing here either, again just the same odd-looking redstone.” The older Ianitee closes the door behind him as he inspects the house number. “Wait, Tom, what’s the number on the house you just checked?” Tom walks back to where he just came from, pushing some of the overgrown vines out of the way. “Uhh, number 7. Why?” Jordan doesn’t answer, instead, he walks up the another one of the houses that surround the square. Tom makes his way over to Jordan, interesting in knowing what the other has discovered. “I think there’s a pattern, like a clue.” Tom groans. “I suck at redstone! Couldn’t it have been a horde of zombies instead?”

It takes the duo a good thirty minutes to figure out the puzzle. By activating the redstone circuits in each house in the correct order they manage to open up the bottom of the well, revealing an entrance to what can only be described as a creepy cellar. “I ain’t going down there first,” Tom says as he sees the cobweb-covered hallway. “I’ll follow your lead, mister muscleman.” Jordan snorts, the nickname amuses him. “I’ll protect you, Thomas. Don’t worry.” 

Torch in one hand and a sword in the other, Jordan leads the way as he and Tom enter the cellar. A hallway leads them into what appears to be an abandoned underground church. There are dead bodies on the floor between the pews and surrounding a shrine at the back. “Stay low,” Jordan whispers as he kneels behind one of the pews. Tom joins him, crouching down beside him. “I don’t think they’re actually dead, lemme check.” Jordan pulls a necklace from under his chest plate, it’s gold with an enamelled eye of ender on it on one side. Tom has seen the other side before, it’s got an old sigil on it that Dec taught Jordan, but he doesn’t know what it means or does. As he closes his eyes, the older man mutters some words under his breath as the symbols on the other side seem to light up. Jordan opens his eyes quickly as he whispers, “They’re all zombies, get ready for a fight.” Tom nods in response and unsheaths his sword. Both men jump up simultaneously, swords out and ready to fight.

The seemingly dead bodies begin to animate as Jordan expected, eyes glowing a bright shade of purple. Tom steps forewards, ready to fight, but Jordan sticks out his arm and halts him. “Wait, I don’t think they’re hostile.” As he finishes his sentence, the zombies bow their heads to the two Ianitees. One of them speaks to them in a low and damaged voice. “Welcome, heroes. You are here for the relic?” The champion speaks up. “Yes, we are. We are followers of Ianite and we need the relic in order to-” The zombie interrupts him. “Your motivation needs not to be said, if it is for balance we will know.” All zombies turn their eyes to the ceiling and start chanting in a language unknown to both heroes. A breeze picks up and starts blowing faster and faster, circling the Ianitees. The chanting turns into a low hum as the noise of the wind becomes louder and louder, still picking up speed. Tom grabs onto Jordan’s arm as he is almost swept away by the force of it, the other making sure to keep him close as the tunnel of wind suddenly disappears. “Very well, it seems both of you have passed.” Then, the zombies collapse again as if nothing happened.

Jordan slowly walks towards the back of the room, eyeing the bodies on the floor as he steps over them. Tom is following closely behind him. “Is that it?” Tom stretches out his arm and points at a bejewelled chalice that has appeared on the altar of the shrine. “No, that is just a regular old magical Chalice of Balance,” Jordan comments sarcastically and the other sticks out his tongue at him. “Let’s take this thing and get the heck out of here, the bodies are kinda freaking me out,” Jordan says as he steps up on the platform and opens his backpack. Tom picks up the chalice and carefully places it in the bag alongside an old tome and a cloudy yet softly glowing amethyst orb. “That makes three relics of balance,” The zombie crosses his arms over his chest. “Look at our teamwork, actual legends!” Jordan slings the backpack over his shoulder and looks at his friend. “Didn’t doubt us for a second.”

The journey home is surprisingly easy, they don’t run into any significant trouble besides a few drowned tugging at their boat. “What do you think these relics are for?” Tom asks Jordan, hoping that the other knows more than he does. “I’m not sure, but I’m assuming it’s got something to do with gaining more power so we can start getting Dianite back from that prison.” Jordan hasn’t got a clue either, but speculations are better than a simple ‘I don’t know’. “That would make sense,” Deep down, Tom hopes that Jordan is far away from the truth. He’s been enjoying his time as a follower of Ianite a lot and he doesn’t want to hurt his friend when he inevitably has to go back to Dianite. He made a deal with the god after all. “I think I can see your lighthouse,” Jordan interrupts Tom’s thoughts. “I’ll get us to the Trial House, Ianite said she’d be there.”

As Jordan said, Ianite is at the Trial House, she’s waiting on the shore under the arch. As she sees the men approach she waves at them to make sure she’s got their attention. “Welcome back, heroes!” She says to her followers as they set foot on dry land. “Did you find my relics?” Jordan swings his backpack off his back as he answers his Lady. “Yes we did, they’re right here.” He opens the bag to show her the three relics. “Splendid! Now, can you hand them to me?” The captain gives Ianite the three items as Tom stands behind him, overseeing everything as if they could be jumped at any moment. “These relics will help us further our quest for balance.” The goddess finally says as all three relics float around her. Tom clears his throat before he speaks up. “Lady, what are the relics for, specifically? Some kind of ritual?”

“-And the power from the ritual should make sure any trace of the darkness on the islands is revealed so we can take care of it accordingly.” Ianite finishes her long explanation. Both men nod at her, neither expected a nearly hour-long lecture on a revelation ritual. “You are dismissed, tomorrow we’ll commence the ritual. I’ll notify the priest.” And with that, Ianite disappears. 

Jordan picks up his bag again, brushing some dirt off it. “You got anything to do today or do you wanna go hunting for wither skulls?” The captain asks. The two had been wanting to get a new beacon for the trail house. Before Tom can answer, however, there is a voice in his head stopping him. “ Tell him you have plans, go to our meeting spot. ” Tom blinks. “Uhh, I have plans, sorry. I gotta make a new vault.” How was Dianite able to speak to him like this? Did he escape? “You never had an actual vault, Tom. You can’t call this one new.” Jordan teases. “Good luck!” The captain walks to his boat and sails off as Tom grabs his trident and uses that to dash through the water and jump up onto his volcano.

Tom doesn’t see him. Dianite isn’t here, so he didn’t get out of prison. right? “Hello, zombie boy. Long time no… speak.” Dianite’s voice is back in his head again, clearer than before. “I’ve managed to find a way to contact you, but it is only brief. It is time to honour your end of the deal.” Tom shivers, the voice feels rough in his head and it hurts to listen to it. “What do you need, my lord?” Dianite chuckles, the feeling in his head is painful and it almost makes Tom throw up. “Remember the Orb? I need you to activate it before Ianite does her little ritual.”Tom’s head feels like it’s going to explode, the pain is growing unbearable. “Do it tonight. Your instincts will help you. Good luck, zombie bo-” Dianite’s voice is gone a bit too soon, but Tom is glad it is. He knows it’s time to hold up his end of this cursed deal, and he’ll do it even though he has his doubts about his faith.

Chapter Text

He’s always been able to trust his god. The orb will just grant Dianite more power, that’s it. If he’s honest, Tom thinks Dianite is the weakest out of all three gods. More power would just balance things out, wouldn’t it?

Tom strolls down the volcano, lost in thought, as he’s overcome by a jab of pain in his head. “One more thing, zombie boy.” Dianite’s voice is back and so is the pain that now grows in his skull. “This is for both of us. You will be rewarded.” Tom falls to the ground, holding his head as the sharp ache takes over. “Don’t you want us to be powerful together?” Through the pain, he is barely able to answer his god. “O-of course.” He groans in pain. “Good.” The pain disappears as quickly as it came.

When it comes to magic and rituals, Tom is completely lost. He was never interested in the stuff, the chance that things like this go awry is too big for him. So as he holds the orb and feels the pulses of power emanating from it he starts doubting everything. This can only go two ways. Either everything goes perfectly fine and he’ll have to deal with betraying Ianite or everything goes horribly wrong and he’ll have to deal with both the mess of the ritual and betraying Ianite. He’ll have to deal with betraying Jordan either way and he’s not ready for that.
Unlike Dianite told him, Tom’s instincts are not helping him come up with whatever ritual he’s supposed to be doing. All he has done so far is hold the orb and look at it, thinking that maybe the orb will tell him what to do.

Out of nowhere, Tom’s legs give out before he registers the thumping pain in his head. “You really are useless, aren’t you?” Dianite’s voice scrapes through his head. “There is a book in the priest’s tower,” Tom can’t see clearly anymore, black spots fill his vision. “Grab that so you’ll be able to do this. Soon, I will be able to take over.” The god’s voice continues but Tom doesn’t hear it anymore as the pain becomes too much for him and he nearly loses consciousness.

The pain is now gone, and Tom is sitting on his bedroom floor, panting heavily. Whatever Dianite is doing to contact him hurts like a bitch. That can’t be any good for him. He stays sat like this for a good few minutes as he tries to gather himself. He can trust his god, Dianite has always been like this. In their homeworld, the god might have been a chaotic evil but Tom could always put his trust in him. The next Dianite was different, less impulsive, but no less trustworthy. This Dianite clearly has a taste for power, which Tom can’t deny he has as well.

The priest isn’t home, which leaves Tom to go find this one book by himself amongst Dec’s many many bookshelves. With a deep sigh, the zombie grabs the ladder and starts looking from the top down. At least Dec has some kind of system for how he places his books, Tom realizes. The top shelf just has books on baking and food, so probably not there. The shelf below that is more promising as it’s packed with books on potion magic, but even though that might be interesting it’s not what Tom is after. Finally, on one of the bottom shelves, Tom starts running into books on ritual magic. Some of the books are written in a language that hurts to look at, the letters seemingly crawling over the pages. One of the books has ‘Basic Ritual Magic’ written in a big readable font on the spine of the book. Jackpot! Tom grabs the book and puts it in his bag. He drags the ladder back to where he took it from and makes his way back home, ready to do some heavy reading.

“Tom, you home?” Jordan’s voice breaks through Tom’s concentration. Quickly, Tom shoves the book under his pillow as he jumps up from his bed. “Yeah, hi. What’s up?” He says as he walks to his front door where Jordan is waiting. “If you got time, I’d like your help gathering some supplies for the ritual tomorrow. Ianite has left me with a long list of stuff she needs for it.” The captain waves with a piece of paper covered in writing. Tom scratches his head. He should probably read but he also doesn’t want to come across as uninterested in the whole ritual thing. Too risky to blow his cover now. “I got time, what are we getting first?”

After looking through both their storages, they realise that all they still need to find are at least a stack of lapis and some bones, and Tom knows exactly where they can get both. “I moved my beacon again, it’s in a new location in the badlands. Plenty of lapis and skeletons over there.” Jordan nods and picks up his backpack. “Alright then, what are we waiting for?”

The beacon has been moved pretty deep into the badlands, a lot of the land has been mined out over time. It’s getting pretty late into the day by the time they reach the new mine. Down at the level of the beacon, Tom hadn’t been able to do much work yet, so they’ve got plenty of stone left to mine through. The zombie grabs his pickaxe, “I’ll start on the left side here and then you can start on the right side.” he gestures at both sides of the beacon. “We’ll meet up on the other side.” Jordan agrees and they get to work.

It doesn’t take them too long to mine out a large area around the beacon, Tom can see Jordan through the small cracks surrounding the beacon. He has been thinking about Dianite’s words and the ritual while he was mining and his lack of attention to his task has led him to forgetting to put up enough torches. “WATCH OUT!” Jordan pulls Tom down and out of the way of a few arrows, shot at him by three skeletons that crawled from the dark corners. “Heck.” Jordan scrambles to grab his sword from his bag as Tom immediately reaches for his, too. Parrying the arrows as much as he can, Tom sprints towards the monsters to take them out with Jordan in his tracks.

The fight is a 3v1 from the start, as one of the skeletons shoots an arrow past Tom on purpose and hits Jordan in his upper leg. The Ianitee scrambles backwards, hissing in pain as he tries to avoid getting hit somewhere worse. “Hold on!” Tom shouts as he takes down the first skeleton, moving on to the next with a quick twist of his ankle, pulling his sword back up and swinging at his next target with great precision.

With Jordan’s leg bandaged up, they can start the journey home. As they reach the surface they can see the sun starting to set, sinking slowly into the ocean. “Can you fly with your leg all messed up or?” Tom asks unsurely, looking at Jordan. The other man shrugs. “Only one way to find out.” Tom opens his mouth to try and argue against the somewhat reckless plan, but Jordan is already taking off. The initial boost goes okay, but the second boost makes Jordan lose his balance and forces him to drop into the ocean. Tom sprints over to make sure he’s okay. “Maybe we should make a boat,” Jordan says as he hoists himself onto the shore, trying not to hurt himself more. “You think so? Dumbass.” Tom mutters as he first makes sure the bandage didn’t get ruined by the man’s dive.
The sea is quiet at night and the trip is luckily short. There is a pang of guilt when Tom thinks he’ll have to tell Jordan to go home alone but the other man prevents an excuse. “You look tired, Tom. I’ll be able to take care of myself, got plenty of potions in my base.” He shifts his course for home, “I’ll see you at the Trial House tomorrow morning for the ritual!” Jordan helps him without even knowing. “See ya tomorrow mate, careful with your damn leg though!” Tom puts up a cheerful facade for the last time that night as he sails home.

For the first time in a while, Tom hoists his boat out of the water and takes it apart. Something tells him his dock should be empty. The island is eerily quiet as if the night itself holds its breath in expectation to have its voice returned. The book helps, opting to perform the ritual in his cellar lets Tom read the instructions out loud without fearing to be overheard by any of his friends. Karl does have a surprisingly keen set of ears at the absolute worst of times. Tom has set out a triangle of redstone adorned at each point with an arrangement of gems on the floor of the subterranean chamber. Candles light up the dark room while all other sources of light have been snuffed out in fear of them interfering. Alright, this is it.

Tom places the orb at the centre of the triangle and instinctively looks up at the sky he cannot see from here. A minute passes, 5 minutes, but Tom does not move. He waits, there are no words that come to him to mutter nor does he know any incantations to start a ritual as the book mentioned none.

“Come on, take your gift.” He mutters as he closes his eyes, too tired to keep them open. A flash of pain, an impact of thunder, a wave rolling over the island sending water down into the cellar, all hit simultaniously and the orb shatters, sending out a wave of dark energy.

Chapter Text

Jordan shoots up from his bed, a wave of some dark power just shook his tower and it seemed to come from the direction of Tom’s island. He throws on his armour and grabs his sword as he jumps in the lift to his roof, just in time to see Tom’s house get set on fire by a well-aimed lightning strike while lightning keeps striking the island with worrying frequency. Jordan does not hesitate as he swaps out his trident to fly over as fast as he can, clasping his god’s symbol as he does.

Karl also awakes to his tree shaking from some sort of impact and the loud noise of lighting impacting not too far away. He jumps up and looks out the window to see Tom’s island in ruin, lighting having set the house on fire and large waves crashing into the lighthouse are already knocking down some of the rocks that were carefully placed there not too long ago. He sees Jordan on the top of his tower and doesn’t hesitate to grab for his weapons and make his way to Tom as fast as he can as well.

A wave of dark energy rushes through the air, the water, and the very fabric of reality as the orb shatters, shaking everything to the core. Tom feels a cold hand on the back of his head but his body will not move, the sensation holding him in place as it sinks into his head. He hears the storm outside but the sound becomes muted, the cold hand not in his brain as he tries to hold his head in his hands to shake off the pain but he can’t.

“Well done my boy, well done. You have served me so well.” Dianite is in his head again, and it hurts. Tom wants to scream but he can’t. He feels a single tear roll down his cheek as he is frozen, no, held in place by the now searing pain holding his head. “Oh don’t cry now, you have done me such a service.” The god reaches out and holds Tom’s head with one hand, swiping away the tear with his thumb. “Soon we will rule, do not fight it.” Tom’s heartbeat is too loud, overtaking the noise of the roaring storm as suddenly his body moves, pulling out his sword and devouring a golden apple as if getting ready for a fight.

Tom is not doing this. Panic sets in as his body moves beyond his control. He tries to drop the sword, swing his arms, scream, do anything. Nothing happens. He is trapped in his own body, trapped as just a mind, a conscience to look upon whatever might happen now.

“Thomas, are you okay?” It’s the captain’s voice at the top of the stairs. He wants to scream back, scream to tell him to run, that he fucked up, that, that, but he can’t. A toe-curling laugh sounds from behind as his body rushes up the stairs and Dianite stands to watch. 

“Tom, what’s going on? What are you-” Jordan is interrupted by his friend swinging his sword at him and nearly cutting him across the chest. Inside his own mind, Tom wails. If it could be heard it would have carried enough weight to quell the storm, calm the sea, and restore the damage yet discovered. But it was not heard, and nothing was restored. Dianite knew and so he shut up the vessel for his power. Jordan’s eyes turn sharp and turn to the shadow in the basement. “YOU!” He shouts at the form, “DIANITE YOU COWARD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” The form does nought but laugh, a cackle that grows and fills the chamber. 

“He did this himself, little captain. He did what none others before him achieved. He has unleashed the true power of chaos.” Dianite snickers at the confusion that now paints the Ianitee’s face. “Show them what we’re made of, my boy.” And the body of Tom attacks. 

A clash of swords, Tom’s possessed body rushing at Jordan as the captain struggles to fight him off and keep his footing. “Tom, what are you doing?” Jordan hisses at him as their swords clash. There comes no answer as Tom wards of the other’s blade and parries for another blow. “TOM STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” The captain is now yelling, his attacks growing reckless as he deflects and parries and dodges his friend’s many blows. All Tom can do is suffer in silence, crying out for help, for his friend, that he’s sorry, please. 

Karl joins the fight and manages to cut Tom’s arm as the possessed zombie did not realize the other man had joined in the struggle. A flash follows as a drop of Tom’s blood hits the ground and for the first time that fight he speaks. 

“You are both such fools.” 

Jordan rears up to knock Tom back with his shield, “What did you do? Why are y-” Fast like lighting Tom parries the attempt cuts the other man across the upper leg, “I simply did as my lord asked of me, Jordan.” Another swing of the blade and the captain barely avoids it before Tom brings his arm back down and clocks the side of his face with the sword’s handle, “You would have done the same for your lady, you know you would~” 

“STOP THIS, TOMAS!”

A sharp pain sears across Tom’s back and while the body itself does not respond, Tom wails internally and cries out as Karl manages to cut him from behind. Instead of crying in pain, his body just laughs as the pain disappears as quickly as it appeared and the wound heals as dark energy starts surrounding his body.

Karl takes a step back, “What the fuck?”

The display of power is enough distraction for the possessed body to swing out his empty arm, sending out a shockwave, knocking Karl and Jordan back into a wall. “Wha- how? Who are you?” Confused, the mianitee stumbles back onto his feet and takes a defensive stance to protect Jordan.

“Well, while I would LOVE to see how this fight turns out, that would make this whole ordeal a bit boring.” Dianite now exits the ruins of Tom’s house, his form taking more and more shape as he approaches his disciple. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind giving me what is mine, darling~” A sharp pain shocks through Tom, but the body does not react. 

“Ahh, I have missed this.” Dianite stretches, body rebuilt from the power he took from Tom’s body. “Come now, my boy.” He places his hand on Tom’s shoulder, the pain swells again and Tom loses consciousness.

Jordan scrambles to his feet as he sees Dianite put a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “What are you guys doing?” Desperation takes over the captain and Karl has to hold him back as he tries to charge at the god and his friend. 

“I- I think we’re too late, cap.” 

Black tendrils start whipping up from the ground, Dianite’s cackling grows louder and starts echoing across the island and surrounding ocean. “Goodbye, for now, gentlemen. We have business to attend to.” Tom grins in response, unable to stop himself from doing so. A loud thunder rumbles and rolls across the sky as the shadowy tendrils engulf the duo before splitting apart and vanishing as lighting strikes where they stood.

Silence takes over, no more storm to be heard, only the soft crackling of the burning remains of Tom’s house and the waves rolling across the beach. Jordan stands as if paralyses, unable to move as tries to make sense of what just happened. 

“Are you hurt, Jordan?” Karl carefully approaches him and tries to put his hand on the man’s shoulder but the captain shrugs it off. He turns to face the Mianitee. The desperation that coloured his features before has made way for the anger that is now drawn across his face as the light of the fire paints the expression with a burning passion, flames welling up as he calmly answers, “No, I’m fine. I have places to be.”